Gumbo Interruptus

We started out today with lazy intentions. After pottering around, Charlie made crepes for lunch with a heavenly Mornay and spinach sauce. Divine! Then he read a book while I chrocheted by the fire, and mid afternoon we began the turkey gumbo. The smoked turkey carcass had been languishing in the fridge and it became the star player in one of Charlie's best recipes. It is from an Emeril cookbook and usually features the thanksgiving turkey. This time we had not only a *smoked* turkey body but also quite a bit of leftover heavenly ham to add to the final stew.

The day was interrupted a few times by Harry throwing up. It's something that he does with moderate frequency, kind of annoying but it's an unavoidable part of cat ownership. When he started mewling piteously before hurling, I began to think something was wrong. He hung out at the water dish drinking water, then a half hour later would cry and vomit all of it. The mewling was bad enough (one never wants to hear their loved ones in pain) but during his last epic retch the resulting liquid was pink-tinged. Enter: efficient first aid mode. An all hours vet was procured (hovering on the cusp of 5pm, the local vet told me they were booked with emergencies until closing) one town over and we turned off the fire on the gumbo.


Poor Harry. We made it to the vet and they did bloodwork and xrays on him. Neither of us could think of a single thing that he could have illicitly ingested. After so many years we are militant about the particular kind of christmas ribbon that both cats can't resist eating. There weren't any bits of stuff in the vomit, as is usually the case with eaten plants and other items. It was a mystery. He was dehydrated, obvious because of all the lost liquid, but nothing else seems wrong. The vet gave him some IV liquids and a prescription for pepcid and another stomach soother. In hindsight, when I have bad stomach acid I also drink tons of water and occasionally throw up. Poor Harry! No one will know what set him off, but with all of the holiday cooking and treats given to him it could have been that heavenly ham after all. He's quarantined up in our bedroom for the night with no food or water, and will have a little tomorrow with boiled chicken. And some pepcid. Who knew it would work for cats!


We got home after 8 and resumed work on the gumbo. I super-whisked up the roux and charlie did the other prep while the rice cooked. Then we sat for forty agonizing minutes while the flavors melded. Charlie sat in a chair in the living room and read me recipes out of his new Spanish cookbook while I tried not to drool all over my crocheting. Then we stuffed ourselves and it was worth the wait. Sorry Harry, that we couldn't share with you.